"The Cloud" has taken on a new meaning in the digital era, representing the remote storage of digital information. Playing on this theme of cloud storage, RMJM recently unveiled a proposal for the Taichung City Cultural Center in western Taiwan that is shaped like a big puffy cloud that floats above its surroundings. The unique structure will be covered in solar panels, and it will contain a variety of floating gardens, terraces, and roof decks.

The city of Taichung in western Taiwan recently held an international design competition to build a new library and cultural center in the city center. The competition has brought out some seriously creative proposals from several of the world’s leading architecture firms. Previously, NYC-based LOT-EK unveiled a proposal for a a structure that would be made from more that 1,600 recycled shipping containers. RMJM’s proposal doesn’t contain any shipping containers, but it does include plenty of green features.

In addition to the solar panels and roof gardens, RMJM’s plan for the Taichung Cultural Center calls for the use of passive solar strategies and natural ventilation that would reduce the overall energy used by the cloud-shaped building. And the building’s skin will act as a double façade enclosure that will provide a screen for shading to provide natural cooling. The unique shape of the building will also help to shade the lower levels.

RMJM’s proposed building will be surrounded with gardens, and because the building itself will be suspended above the ground, it will open up more ground-level space for public plazas. “The ground plane is transformed into a rolling landscape accessible from every direction, with the structure lifted off the ground, creating a cultural and recreational plaza,” the architects explain.